Rules of Engagement
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: "If someday you decide you want to get married, you have to propose to me." A oneshot collection of different ways that Penny could propose to Leonard.
1. Chapter 1

**I promised you guys another oneshot collection, didn't I? : ) Here it is! Each chapter will be different ways that Penny could propose to Leonard. Like Just The Girl, they will all be relatively short.**

"This was a really good birthday," Leonard said, smiling at Penny as they climbed the stairs.

She rested her head on his shoulder as best she could while ascending. "Aw, I'm glad," she said affectionately. "And I have another present for you upstairs. I don't wanna brag, but it's kinda the greatest present ever."

"Oh yeah?" he said, grinning at her. "What makes you so sure?"

"Well," she said, "it's definitely something you want." She took one of his hands as they finished their climb, hanging onto it as she unlocked the door to her apartment and led them inside.

"So," he said, swinging their arms, "what's my greatest present?"

Penny didn't answer for a second, still hanging onto his hand, and then pivoted around in front of him and smiled. "How about me?"

Leonard cocked his head slightly, confused. Penny, still smiling, let a moment pass before slowly dropping toward the ground and settling on one knee.

His breath quickened, his throat tightened, and when he felt her hand tighten around his he realized it was shaking. Penny noticed his reaction and smiled slightly, then cleared her throat. "I didn't want to do this at the restaurant because you first asked me out in this room and you asked me out on the date that got us back together in this room and this felt more right than a restaurant, despite the science fiction theme. It's my turn to start something in this room. So Leonard Hofstadter," she said, looking up into his eyes, "will you marry me?"

Leonard was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to answer without his voice breaking. After several seconds it became clear that that wasn't going to happen. So instead of speaking, he dropped to his knees and pulled her into a hug, letting out a shaky breath as the tears escaped his eyes. He felt her arms come around him, and they didn't speak for several moments. Then Leonard leaned back and put his hands up to the side of her face. She was tearing up, too. "You know I will," he said tearfully, giving her a kiss. "You know I will."


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two! Also, I've re-vamped my profile a bit, so take a look! No new polls though, unfortunately, but I'll let you guys know when another one comes up!  
**

"So," Leonard said, taking off his bag and leaving it at the door before joining her on the couch, "what are you up to?"

"Well," Penny said, turning her phone over in her hands, "I have to make a phone call, but I wanted to do it when you were with me."

"Okay," Leonard said, sliding a hand to her knee, "is anything wrong?"

"No, no," Penny said. "But I have to talk to your mother, and I kinda wanted you to be here to…observe the conversation."

Leonard cocked his head. "O…kay."

"Alright," Penny said, putting her hand on top of his. "It should only take a minute." She already had the number up on her screen, so she hit 'dial' and put it up to her ear.

"Hello, Beverly!" Penny smiled when the older woman picked up, biting her thumbnail nervously. "It's Penny!" She paused. "The Penny that's dating your son." Another pause. "The Penny that's dating Leonard." Pause. "Come on, Bev, that's got to be specific enough, we're homegirls, remember? Well," she said, glancing toward Leonard, who still looked completely confused, "giving you my last name might be tricky. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." She paused again, nodding her head slightly. "Yes, I know that you were only pretending to not know who I was after I specified I was dating your son. Yes, yes, it was very funny." She smiled innocently at Leonard, who now had an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, so, how are you?" She gave what she hoped was an amused eyeroll. "Okay, I won't beat around the bush. See, here's the thing. I love your son. A lot." She waited, nodding. "I know that you have no control over that…yeah…uh-huh…"

"Penny," Leonard said. "What's the…"

"Ba ba ba!" Penny said, holding up a finger to silence him. "See, Bev, I've decided that there's nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life with him. And I was wondering how you felt about that."

Penny tried to conceal her grin when Leonard's jaw dropped. "Yes…yes Beverly, I'm aware that normally it's the man who asks the girl to marry him, but it's not a requirement. Uh – huh…" she nodded again. "Well, it is considered polite to get a parent's permission, and as you are so very intellectually superior to your ex husband, I thought it would be a much wiser decision to go through you. I will be part of your family, after all. Well, providing he agrees to marry me. I haven't asked him yet, although I suspect he knows what's coming." She gave Leonard a smile, tipping her head slightly as she listened to Beverly's response. "Well, that's good to know, Beverly. It's comforting to know your future mother – in – law won't be so opposed to me becoming a Hofstadter…well, of course I don't know that yet, but I have a pretty good feeling that I will. Alright. I will keep you updated. Bye."

She hung up the phone and gave Leonard a grin, then pretended to take notice of his expression for the first time, and she put her acting skills to use, feigning worry. "So you heard that, huh?"

"I heard you had something to ask me," Leonard said, shrugging innocently – or at least she figured that was the intent.

"I do," she said, reaching over and taking his hand. "Leonard," she said, smiling, "will you do me the honor of allowing me to share your name with you?"

"Well," Leonard said, teasingly, "technically, anyone can change their name. If you wanted to be a Hofstadter, all you'd have to do is…"

"Oh, I know, I know," she said, waving her free hand and then looking down at the two of theirs. "But see, I'd only want to be a Hofstadter if you agreed to marry me, so…" she looked up. "Will you?"

Leonard smiled. "Yes," he said, leaning over to kiss her. "Yes, I will."

**The prompt for this proposal was given to me by the lovely FoxPhile, and the prompt itself was "Penny contacts Leonard's mother to ask her permission to marry her son." Hope you enjoyed it!**

**Note: please do not leave prompts as reviews. When I want prompts, I ask for them.**


	3. Chapter 3

**And here's another quick one shot for you guys! The Sulfur Juxtaposition will probably be updated on Sunday.**

"Well, I'd say that Valentine's Day was much improved over last year's, huh?" Penny asked as she came out of the bathroom and pushed her hair behind her ears.

"Well, you know," Leonard said, dropping onto the center couch cushion and leaning back. "Valentine's Day isn't over yet."

"Are you saying that somehow we're going to mess up this last half hour?" Penny teased.

"No," Leonard said, "I'm just saying that as a scientist, I have to consider all possibilities."

"Fair enough," Penny said. She walked around the coffee table and sat next to him. "But I think the night's just going to get better." She leaned over, a hand on his chest, and kissed him.

"That's the more likely option," he responded when they broke apart, smiling over at her. "I love you."

She smiled back, her hand still on his chest. "I love you too. And so," she said. "I have a very important question to ask you."

Leonard smiled at her word choice. "Oh yeah?" he asked, looking as if he knew exactly what she was going to say.

Penny nodded. "Leonard Hofstadter?" she started.

"Yes ma'am?" Leonard asked.

Penny paused another moment. "Will you marry me?"

"Well, I did say last year that this year I'd…what?"

Penny grinned as the question registered. "You heard me."

Leonard's confused expression turned into a hesitantly happy smile. "You're asking me to marry you?"

Penny nodded. "Oh!" she said. "Did you want me on my knee?" She slid off the couch into the recognizable position.

Leonard, in response, took her hands, stood up, and drew him up with her, kissing her on the lips. "Of course I'll marry you," he said, kissing her again. "Of course I will."

"Mmmm, good," Penny said, sliding her arms around his neck. "So am I a good Romance Ninja?"

He smiled, shoulders shaking slightly with amusement. "You're the best."


	4. Chapter 4

**This update was brought to you by Brit, who my conversation with tonight made me get to updating this before she goes to bed, rather than tomorrow. So if you're reading this on April 1, 2013, thank her!**

Leonard was happy as he walked up the stairs, an hour before he'd expected to. He'd gotten ahead at work, and was able to leave early. The idea of a two and a half day weekend – or close to it, anyway – made him happy. He hoped Penny would be home from doing her grocery shopping, so they could spend some time together before vintage video games.

Leonard reached the fourth floor and turned toward Penny's apartment; he opened the door and stood in the doorway, the word 'huh' coming to his lips even though no one was there to talk to.

There were flowers, tied together in bunches, laying on the coffee table and on the counter, and vases were drip drying by the sink. An old CD player was on the couch, the bottom popped open. Penny was nowhere to be found. Leonard stared at the view for several moments until he heard a frantic voice.

"No! No, no, no!"

Leonard turned around to see Penny standing on the landing, holding the strings of several heart shaped balloons that were billowing over her head, a horrified expression on her face. "Penny?" He questioned.

She stood there stock still, her face falling like it had started on top of the Empire State Building. "You're home early."

"I know," he said. "I wanted to surprise you."

Penny slowly started shaking her head. "No, but…but you weren't supposed to be home for an hour, I…" she ran past him, into the apartment, her shoulder hitting his as she brushed by, the balloons flowing behind her. "This was all supposed to be ready…"

"Penny," Leonard said following her into the living area. "What is going on?"

"You, you said…" Penny gestured to the room, clearly flustered. "You said you wanted flowers. And I…I thought the balloons would be nice, I went to get them, you weren't supposed to be home, I…" Her voice cracked, and she stopped speaking, her hands starting to shake the way they did when she was trying to hold back tears. "I had everything all washed, I was going to put them…" she gestured vaguely around the apartment again. She blinked hard. "It was going to be beautiful."

Leonard looked up, to where the balloons were bouncing against the ceiling, and back to his girlfriend, who was crumpling into a ball, going to her knees and then to the floor. He looked around the room, and then, hesitantly, spoke. "Were you…were you going to ask…"

Her hair was covering her face, but he could recognize a nod when he saw one. He took the necessary steps toward her and dropped down, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," he said. "Hey."

"I knew you were ahead at work, I should have known you'd be home early…"

"Hey," Leonard said, reaching out and pulling her up into a sitting position. He brushed the hair away from her face. "Hey."

Penny looked around the room, sniffling. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. "It was going to be perfect."

"Do you…do you want me to go take a walk?" Leonard asked.

"No," Penny said, "no, I'll just do it right now. Or would that be stupid?"

Leonard smiled. "I'll be back."

He didn't anticipate waiting too long to come back. The thoughts filling his head as he walked up and down the street were enough to occupy his mind for a long time.

* * *

When Leonard returned an hour later, the apartment looked different. The flowers were set up all around, the coffee table, the counter, the small dinner table they ate at so often, on top of the TV case they'd built back when Penny had first moved in, and on the table next to the door. The music they'd made love to the night after she'd said "I love you" was playing, and Penny was no longer the frazzled, upset woman he'd left the hour before. She smiled at him as he entered the apartment. "Hey there," she said, coming over and kissing him.

"What's all this?" Leonard asked, pretending to be surprised.

Penny gave an embarrassed little laugh at his effort, and then smiled. "Well," she said. "You said that if I ever decided that I wanted to get married, I had to propose to you." She cocked her head. "Is this the whole nine yards?"

"Well…" Leonard said playfully, and Penny dropped down on her knee in response. "There it is," he said. "The whole…nine…yards."

She smiled up at him. "Leonard Hofstadter," she said. "Will you marry me?"

Leonard waited a moment, just to mess with her, and she raised an eyebrow. "If you say 'maybe next year', I'll walk out right now," she teased, her voice coming out in a rush, making Leonard realize that she was a little nervous.

He squeezed her hand, his smile taking up his entire face. "Yes. Yes, I'll marry you."

**This one was a bit longer, but I'm not sorry because I don't think you guys mind. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Next chapter! It was going to be up tomorrow, but an update was hastened by Amber ACTUALLY READING TBBT FIC. AMBER, THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO YOU, BESTIE.**

**The idea for this proposal was suggested to me by stardustmelody77.**

"Penny?" Leonard asked hesitantly. "Have you been going to the comic book store by yourself?"

Penny turned from the fridge. "I've gone a couple of times."

A small smile came over Leonard's face. "Are you secretly catching up on all my favorite comics behind my back?" he asked her, teasingly, sounding as if he was convinced that's what she was doing.

"No," Penny said. "That's way too time consuming. But…are you sure you even know what your favorite comic book is?"

"Well, there are certainly ones I like better than others, but…"

"What about this one?" she asked, reaching into the bag on the counter and pulling out an unfamiliar looking book.

Leonard cocked his head. "What is that?"

"The Adventures of Leonard and Penny," she said. Leonard laughed. "Don't believe me?" She handed him the book. Leonard's eyebrows went up, and he took it from her. "Illustrated by Stuart Bloom," he read, putting a finger on the name at the bottom. He looked over at Penny. "You got him to make a book of us?"

"Read it!" Penny said, sitting down on the arm of his chair. "Read it!"

Leonard smiled at how excited she looked. "This could become my favorite comic book," he said, opening it and looking down at the first page. In the corner it said _September 24__th__, 2007. _The illustrations were of their first meeting. Leonard gave her an affectionate look, and then began to page through the book, smiling at some things, like Penny gaming with them six weeks into knowing her, that he knew she considered important, and nodding in silent understanding at why some things, like her going out with the illustrator of the comic book, were obviously left out.

_April 12, 2010_ was drawn in dark colors, and Leonard let out a quiet sigh. The next two pages of the books were drawn in a similar dark scheme, and then _January 19, 2012_ began the brightness again. Leonard smiled. "I like the color themes going on here."

Penny grinned. "That was my idea. I'm sure Stuart would have thought of it too, but it was still my idea!"

Leonard smiled. "Good for you," he said fondly, then turned the page again, laughing at how the 'characters' had a hint of a mechanical look during the beta test, a nod to the concept coming from software. When he got to _November 15, 2012_, he lifted his hand and put it on her arm, and then she leaned over and draped her arms around his neck, putting her cheek against his so she could see the pages too.

The most recent date in the book was the week prior, and Leonard smiled when he remembered that date. "This is really, really cool, Penny," he said, turning his head to kiss her cheek.

"Well, you haven't finished it yet!" Penny said, standing up and pointing at the book.

"What else would be in here?" Leonard said. "You giving me the comic book?"

"Well, the next page _is_ dated today," Penny said. "Not that you'd know since you aren't there yet."

Leonard gave her an amused look and then looked back down at the book, turning the page. It was indeed dated that day. The first illustration showed Leonard in his chair, looking at the book, and Penny…his head shot to the left, seeking his girlfriend, and he found her, just like the Penny character was in the book, on one knee, her hands up on the arm of the chair.

Leonard glanced briefly back at the comic book, but he found he couldn't look away from her. He knew…he knew this day would come, he knew she'd be ready one day, and she would do this, but…he suddenly knew what it was like to be Penny, knowing something was happening and being afraid. But this was a good kind of afraid, the kind that was exhilarating, the kind that wasn't really _fear_ but a sudden hit of realization that this _was_ in fact where one was supposed to be. And judging by the look in Penny's eyes, they were both, finally, feeling the exact same way at the exact same time about the exact same thing.

She smiled, sliding her arms farther forward so her hands could take hold of his arm. "Will you marry me, Leonard Hofstadter?"

Leonard smiled. "I have a new favorite comic book."

Her smile turned into a broad grin, and she used her grip on his arm to stand up and lean over him, putting her hands on his face and kissing him. He kissed her back, trying not to tear up, his hands starting to shake.

She pulled back and smiled at him. "Did you like this idea?"

"I'd call this the whole nine yards," Leonard said, reaching his arm around to pull her down on the chair, and she twisted as she fell so she was lying on her back across the chair, on top of the comic book, smiling up at him. He touched her face with the hand that wasn't pinned under her shoulders. He was grinning ear to ear. "We're…e_ngaged_. How long were you planning this?"

"Couple weeks." Penny sat up and pulled herself off the chair.

"Where you going?" Leonard asked, looking confused.

"You gotta look at the next page of the book," she said.

"What, is this the future?" Leonard asked. "Or…" his eyes shot over to her. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

She shook her head. "No. Just look at it."

He turned the page, and his eyebrows shot up. "Okay…this is kinda vague, but…"

She grinned. "That's how what we're gonna do now starts." She held out her hand, and Leonard tucked the book under his arm, standing up and taking it as she started walking toward his room. "Are you really bringing the book with you?"

"Well, I don't want the guys to find it!" Leonard said. "Plus…I may need to use it for reference."

**The Sulfur Juxtaposition, for those of you reading that one, should be updated by the end of the week.**


	6. Chapter 6

**So I hadn't updated this one in a while, so I figured it was about time. Now a quick note: I am 99.99999% positive that this is not actually going to happen, and a thousand percent positive it would not happen exactly as I've written it here. I just figured it'd be fun to write, and I have some other ideas that I like better that I hope to space out for the entire time that I'm writing these onehots.**

**This, of course, takes place in September, when Leonard comes home.**

Penny grinned at the sight of Leonard walking toward her. He'd lost a little weight – the seasickness that he'd told her about so often in their emails had taken its toll – but he was Leonard Hofstadter, the man she loved, returning from a wonderful career opportunity, and not much the worse for wear.

He caught sight of her several seconds after she'd noticed him, so she got to see his own face break into that smile that she'd missed so very much. She bounced a little in place, excited, wanting to run to him but not wanting to make a scene, and held her arms out as he got closer, not sure if she wanted to hug him or kiss him first but knowing that she just wanted physical contact. She'd had none from him since the middle of May.

It turned out she got both, as he dropped his bags one pace from her and curled his arms around her while mashing his lips to hers, their first kiss in four months, and her hands moved from his back up to his face, holding his mouth to hers despite him not making any move to pull away, as she pressed her body to him, craving this closeness.

When their lips parted, she kept her face near his. "I missed you so much," she said, her eyes flickering between his eyes and his mouth, him doing the same. She kissed him again, not allowing him to respond, to tell her that he missed her too, she knew that he did, she didn't need to hear it in the way that she needed to be kissing him.

He was the one to end the kiss – only to hold her head against his shoulder with one hand while the other one pressed against her back. "It's been too long," he whispered.

"I know."

She picked up one of his bags, keeping an arm around him as they walked toward the exit, resting her head on his shoulder. It wasn't the most efficient way to walk, but she didn't give a damn.

Once they were in her car, she looked over at him and smiled. He smiled back. "I love you," he said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it.

She smiled. "I love you too." She put her second hand over his, and they both looked down. "Leonard," Penny said, "can we talk?"

Leonard frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" she said quickly, looking up at him. "Just…it's been a long four months. And…it kinda got me thinking."

Leonard nodded. "Okay. About what?"

"Just that-that I love you a lot." She looked down at their hands again. "And the last time you left, I was ready to take the next step when you came back, and maybe…maybe I'm ready to do that again."

"Are you saying you're ready to live together?" Leonard asked with a smile.

Penny blinked. "Well…we can do that too."

Leonard frowned – but it was an amused sort of frown. "Too?"

Penny smiled. "Leonard, I'm trying to say that I wasn't ready to get married before you left, like Howard and Bernadette did before he went off into space." She saw Leonard's face change slightly, and she smiled. "But I think I'm ready to move toward that now. There were times over the summer that I'd almost regretted not doing this before you left."

"Are you…are you asking me to marry you?" Leonard asked.

"Yes," Penny said, nodding. "I am. Asking you to marry me."

Leonard's face broke into another smile. "Wow. _Wow_!"

She smiled again, biting the left side of her lower lip. "Is that a yes?" she asked quietly through her smile.

"My answer was never in question."

Penny was glad that she hadn't yet fastened her seatbelt because it would have greatly interfered with her flinging herself across the space between them to plant yet another kiss on Leonard's lips. It didn't matter that she'd have the rest of her life to feel his kiss. That didn't change the fact that it had been a long four months.


	7. Chapter 7

**New update! It's been a while since I updated this one, since it isn't a serialized thing, but I haven't been able to focus long enough to write either of my other WIPs in a way that I won't want to redo them later, so I decided to type this one out. It's got…a bit of a different tone than the other ones, but it addresses a possibility that might occur, though probably not as specific as I have here.**

"Leonard, I have something to tell you."

The sudden seriousness in her voice, when before he'd gone to work they had been so playful with each other, so happy, made concern shoot through Leonard like a laser beam. She never met him at the door when he came home, and she certainly never opened it right as his hand was reaching for the knob and declare, "Leonard, I have something to tell you."

"What's wrong?" He asked, frowning. "Are you okay?"

She blinked hard then, and reached over, still preventing his access to the apartment, grabbing his hands in both of hers and looking at him with wetting eyes. "Just…come here."

She led him to the couch and they sank down on it. Leonard put a hand up to the back of her neck and made her look at him. "What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping her eyes. "I've just been thinking about this all day, and…" she sighed, then looked at him. "We screwed up."

Leonard cocked his head slightly. "I'm sorry, I…"

"Well," Penny said slowly, "I told you that I loved you on November fifteenth, right?"

He nodded. "Almost two years ago."

She nodded. "And it's the end of October right now."

"You are the smart one," he said with such a serious face that she almost believed that he meant it.

She allowed herself a half smile. "So the first thing you should know is I was going to ask you to marry me…on that day."

A smile came over Leonard's face, and he looked at her for several seconds before it slowly melted away. "But?"

Penny looked at him for a long moment, and then reached into the purse sitting on the table, withdrew a slender object, and handed it to Leonard. He took it, realized what he was holding and what the display indicated, and his eyes widened as he continued to stare. "Whoa."

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, what's wrong?" Leonard said, his hand moving from her neck to up and down her back. "If we're going to be getting married anyway…"

"Leonard!" Penny said. "Everyone's going to think we're getting married because of the baby. And I can't propose in two weeks because by then we'll be like, what, a month from telling people?"

"Hey," Leonard said, scooting closer to her. "Don't cry. This isn't a bad thing."

"It's not a bad thing!" Penny said, putting her hand on his arm. "It's not." She leaned over to kiss him quickly. "Really, it's not." She smiled. "I know I should be happy. I _am _happy. I just wish…I wish we'd…I didn't want it to happen like this."

Leonard slid his hand up and used it to direct her head down onto his shoulder, then hugged her close. "No one doubts what we are, Penny," he said. "No one that matters is going to think we only got married because you're pregnant."

Penny lifted her head slowly and looked at him.

"What?" He asked.

She smiled slightly. "I'm pregnant."

Leonard smiled. "Hadn't heard it out loud yet?" When she shook her head, he laughed and pulled her toward him again so he could kiss her on top of the head. He pushed his nose into her forehead. "God, I thought something was so wrong when you opened that door."

She pulled back from him again and sucked in a breath. "Well then," she said, taking his hands. "I was freaking out all day for no reason unless…"

Leonard raised an eyebrow, pretty sure he knew where she was going, but not certain. "Unless…" he prompted.

She slid off the couch and onto her knee. "Will you marry me, Leonard Hofstadter?"

He pretended to consider it. "Well, we _are_ having a baby…"

"Oh, stop it," she said, swatting him.

He smiled. "Yes," he said. "Yes, I'll marry you."

**I don't necessarily need Penny and Leonard to be married when they get pregnant, but I really hope they're engaged first…just so people don't try and twist it into a 'shotgun wedding' deal.**


	8. Chapter 8

**This oneshot was inspired by the Snugglers at Fanforum wishing for laundry room sex at one point, and then Kayla suggested they get engaged in the laundry room and then have laundry room engagement sex. Of course, this isn't smutty, but you get the idea.**

"Hey," Leonard said as he entered the laundry room with his empty basket.

Penny was putting her clothes in the washing machine. "Hey you," she said affectionately.

He set the basket down and came over to kiss her. "I'd have waited for you if I'd known you were going to be down here today."

"You're too used to living with someone who has such a set schedule," she said, smiling.

"That's what I love about you," Leonard said, only half joking. "Spontaneous."

"That's me!" Penny said, dumping the rest of her clothes in the machine and setting it. She felt Leonard come up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist. "I didn't see you at all yesterday," he said. "I missed you."

"We texted all evening on the phone," she said, in a voice that was trying to suggest that he was being silly, but was failing miserably at hiding the fact that she'd missed him just as much despite their very short separation. "It's not my fault your job made you work nights."

He nestled his head into her neck, and she craned an arm around to put on the side of his head, using the other one to keep herself standing in a relatively upright position. He'd pinned her between his body and the washing machine. But she strangely wasn't uncomfortable.

"Will you marry me?" she said suddenly, twisting around so her back was pushed up against the washing machine and her stomach was against Leonard's.

He cocked his head slightly. "Here?"

She knew he was referring to the location, and she really didn't know herself. It just kind of…slipped out. But she couldn't retract it – she didn't _want_ to; like the moment she told him she loved him, she'd accidentally been true to herself – and she couldn't tell him that it had just come out, not after all the crap she gave him for proposing during sex. "Why not?" She asked, sliding her hands up to his neck.

"You didn't put any thought into this, did you?" he asked.

She was about to protest, to bring up his proposal, but she saw the laughter in his eyes. "Maybe I'd never thought I'd do it in here," she admitted. "But you know what?" She looked at his lips and then raised her eyes to him.

Leonard kissed her then, his hands firmly on her hips, and she felt weak in the knees. He smiled at her when it ended. "Is that what you were going to say?"

Penny sucked in a breath. "Uh huh." She put her hands on his chest. "So is that a yes?"

"My answer is predicated on whether or not we're about to have sex in the laundry room."

"Whether or not we're about to have sex in the laundry room is predicated on your answer."

He smiled, and turned to the left, releasing her from against the washing machine and pushing her toward the table. She hopped up on it as he ran to the door and shut it, then returned to her.

Penny grinned into his kiss. "I was hoping that's what you'd say." She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding his upper body down against her. "Oh," she said, "and if there's a red mark on my stomach when I take my shirt off, it's because you held me against that stupid washing machine."


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter is based off of stardustmelody's prompt that Penny proposes ****"on stage at another acting class night where they are acting out a scene again and Leonard goes to see her and support her."**

* * *

_Isn't the play over yet? _Sheldon's text inquired. _Am I supposed to _not_ get Thai food for you?_

_Sorry, Sheldon,_ Leonard said. _They have a new person doing the lighting, and Penny said there's a last minute lighting change in the next scene. I guess the guys confused._

_Are you confused? Because you forgot an apostrophe in your last sentence._

Leonard didn't respond. The next scene was about to start. It involved his girlfriend, who was playing a female bounty hunter who slowly fell in love with the misunderstood man she was supposed to be hauling across the world to be executed. "I kiss someone in this scene," she had told him. "And he's really cute. Just a head's up."

The scene began to roll, a terribly clichéd dialogue between the male character and Penny's where they talked about changing feelings and learning about someone's soul and not judging a book by its cover. Then, the other character told her that his main fear in life was his parents outliving him, and because of that, he'd always been careful. Probably too careful, because he was afraid of anything happening to him that they might find out about. Penny's character said that she understood fear, and that was why she'd never had many romantic – or even platonic – attachments in her life.

Penny turned from her co – star and faced the small audience. "I was scared, you see. I'd always lived my life without attachment, because the life I led was so unsure, that if I fell in with someone, I'd risk not only losing them, but being the person that someone lost. Even if I'd wanted to, the idea of becoming a person that had a permanent role in my life was always such a foreign concept to me. It was terrifying." She shook her head. "It's only been recently that I've discovered…" she glanced over at her co – star, and then back at the audience, "that that has all changed. That it's possible to love someone so much that you see past all your fears. That _not_ spending the rest of your life with them is ten times scarier than doing so. Because you know you belong together and you know you'll never be as happy as you are when you're with them, and that's why I want to take this opportunity to say," she dropped down on her knee and looked down into the front row, "Leonard Hofstadter, will you marry me?"

The audience shifted, some speaking quietly amongst themselves, some gasping. One person in the back whistled. She didn't hear them.

She was looking at Leonard, just five feet in front of her, his jaw unhinged. Slowly, that happy, affectionate smile that she'd grown to crave came over his face, and then she could see the glint in his eyes from the change in lighting.

He stood up and closed the five feet between them. The stage was set a little higher than the audience; it came up past his waist so he stayed standing on the floor as she leaned forward and threw her arms around his neck.

"I love you," she said into his ear, closing her eyes.

"I love you too," he responded, holding her even more tightly in their slightly awkward position. _And I've changed my mind about the quality of this play._

She pulled her head back. "I forgot – I forgot to kiss the really cute person." She shifted her hands to the sides of his face and put her mouth on his.

The audience was applauding, and Penny's cast members came out and joined in in the ovation. But no one was as loud as the small group of five tucked into the back, just where they'd all known that Leonard wouldn't have noticed them. They stood up and cheered. Raj whistled again.


End file.
